Spline Loft Sculpture

Sorry responding a bit late. The laser table we have is from this place called Kern. We have a few different sized ones.
https://kernlasers.com/laser-systems/optidual/

My guess is the table cutting surface is roughly 6'-0" x 12'-0" maybe? Probably not something a home user wants to try and buy, but I think a job like this could easily be contracted out to a sign company that has one. There are smaller tables and maybe if someone has a workshop setup and will be doing a lot of projects like this, they could find a used one for relatively not too expensive. It would have to be well ventilated though.

No idea the cost, but most of that will be for the Acrylic sheet material. The thicker the more expensive it will be. Something between 1.5mm (1/16") and 3mm (1/8") would be the most cost effective, but 6mm (1/4") would work if you want something more rigid for each piece. You could also have two pieces cut of the same shape and then laminate them together, but if you want the material clear, that's less desirable.

Looks like this project is coming along nicely though. :)
 
Out of curiosity: I believe I asked this before - but either didn´t get an answer or can´t find it anymore:
Why is this thing made from 2 stacks instead of 1 when all parts are arranged co-planar.
Stack.png
 
I think what you're saying is to make them all hybrid ribs, incorporating both C1d and C2a.

This would pose the same problem with my bolt together idea,
it would be hard to access some areas to carve the foam.

Gerald decided to make the thin rib sections separately.
With only hybrid ribs where needed to attach the other sections.
 
I think I have all the parts built for an animated build sequence.
My first step will be to make a storyboard of sorts, by rendering
"key" frames that I can use as keyframes. o_O

I think I have a really good idea how this will go together and
this animation should help reveal any hidden problems.

I've determined which C1d ribs need to incorporate
parts of C2a's ribs to make the Hybrid ribs.

NewHybrid.jpg
 
These animated gifs have multiple purposes.

They serve as a storyboard for a possible build animation, as well
as a way to illustrate and highlight the proposed build process.

Note: If you open the gif files with the Mac Preview application, you can go through them page by page.

Suggestions are always welcome but Gerald is the artist/creative director,
and the only one here who is a sculptor, so only he knows what's best for him.

Here's the first gif.
master_build_seq1.gif
 
:confused: Red Flag Alert: While getting the files ready for laser cutting we
find that the separate ribs and the ruler object are scaled differently. 😭

When opening the PDFs for C1a and C1b, the last rib of C1a should be
the same as the first rib of C1b, once the ruler objects are matched.
But they do not.

I think this means I need to set the ribs and
ruler up, all connected like plastic model parts.
 
Here's the new setup for C1a, the "tab" at the bottom is 10cm x 5cm for scale matching.

Now I'll do the same for C1b, and we'll see how that works.

New method.jpg
 
Here's C1a after Affinity Designer's Combine command, only available with version 1.3.2.
Before I used Combine I separated the ribs and ruler.

C1a Tree PDF screen.jpg
 
I think this will work.

I just sent the new PDFs for C1a and C1b
over to Gerald to check if they scale match. 🤞

The new files will have Tree in the name.

I can't imagine they won't match so I'll start setting up C1c the same way.
 
Well it seems they are a close match, but not exactly.
The 2:1 rectangles are not quite 2:1 anymore, which is strange. :unsure:

Gerald feels this will still be OK, If not there's a chance that
I can unwrap all parts for C1a, b and c at the same time.
 
Let's see, right now I'm recovering after a short visit from an old friend I haven't seen in 4 years.
The visit was very relaxing but cleaning the house left me with a sore back.

The project is very close to the first real practical test of laser cutting.
I'm going to go through the process again in order to correct something I missed.

This sculpture is based on Bezier splines from Illustrator
brought into Cheetah 3D and placed in 3D space.

When I got the Cheetah file and realized the splines
weren't all evenly spaced, I assumed that was intentional.
I should have mentioned it, and would have found out the
intention was for the slices to be the same distance apart.

My apologies to Gerald for the delay. So far there's no deadline time
crunch, so no big deal. But the lesson is an old one, don't assume.

This gives me an opportunity to unwrap C1a,b and c all together.
Since the last rib of one section is the first rib of the next section,
Gerald has been able to see they are not an exact match
when unwrapped separately, but close enough.

I want to see if I unwrap them all at once if they are an exact match.
My prediction is they will be, but we'll see.
 
The new spacing of all the ribs in C1a, b and c will be 6x3mm ribs with 60mm spaces between and the last space is 62mm.

Is there is another configuration I should use?
Will this be good for all three?

C1 32 spacing.jpg
 
For the new start I'm making the holes for the carbon rods without the Boolean business.

I'm just making small 2mm octagonal starter holes
that can be drilled out to the desired dimension.

New Holes.jpg
 
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